St. Catherine of Siena teens conclude inspiring mission trip

The youth mission team of St. Catherine of Siena Church in West Dundee spent a week this summer from June 12-17, 2016, in Mishawaka, Ind., volunteering their services with the Catholic Heart Work Camp.

This year's team was comprised of 32 teens and nine adult chaperones. To date, the annual Youth Mission Teams from St. Catherine of Siena Church have been involved for 12 years.

The group helped fill a dire need of sprucing up residential homes by cleaning, painting, tidying up yards and gardens, planting flowers and other projects. In addition, the team assisted with a Habitat for Humanity project.

The week was a combination of working for others, as well as spiritual renewal both in the morning before they worked and in the evenings. The grouped stayed at a school and slept on air mattresses.

The St. Catherine of Siena Youth Mission Team worked through the Catholic Heart Work Camp organization to serve the Mishawaka community joining over 300 teens from neighboring states.

The mission of Catholic Heart Work Camp is two-fold: To share the love of Christ serving the neglected, brokenhearted and the marginalized in any way needed, and equally, to inspire participants to live as disciples of Christ through serving others as a way of life and to foster the Catholic faith of each participant through the sacraments, prayer and involvement in social service.

The local Youth Mission Team members who volunteered in Mishiwaka were: Victoria Antonelli, Emily Armstrong, Madelyn Barrett, Michell Barrett, Bridget Bolt, Michael Chammany, Chris Cranston, Adam Davis, Abigail DeDina, Deeva Evangelista, Thomas Gallagher, Kimberly Grant, Steven Grant, Catherine Hicks, Andrew Kaufmann, Justin Kaufmann, Stephanie Kaufmann, Jennifer Lipinski, Alex Maurer, Ewa Oszajec, Christopher Pottorff, Ryan Puvalowski, Sean Rebenstorf, Isabelle Reedy, DeMarco Scarnegie, Carson Scarnegie, Alex Semler, Christopher Semler, Owen Smith, Ryan Smith, Emily Wagh, and Brandon Wirkus.

The project team chaperones were: Glenn Bolt, Bob Grant, Mark Hicks, Meaghan Pottorff, Christopher Reedy, Jim Scarnegie, Jim Semler, Jenny Wagh and Sara Wirkus.

The St. Catherine of Siena Church Youth Mission Team is open to all high school students, freshmen to graduated seniors, in the parish.

St. Catherine of Siena Church is located at 845 W. Main St. in West Dundee. For information call the parish office at (847) 426-2217.